Northumbria University researcher (Alyson Dodd) now part of the NCMD collaboration

I joined the Department of
Psychology Northumbria University as a Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow
in January 2017. My research focuses on improving understanding of the
psychological factors underlying bipolar disorder (for example, the ways in which
people think about and respond to mood), the development and evaluation of
psychological therapies for bipolar disorder, and student mental health
(particularly mania risk). Over the past 18 months, I have been working hard to
develop research and to make links with researchers and clinicians in the
region who share an interest in improving treatment for people living with
bipolar disorder.

New projects embarked on this
past year have included work with the NCMD team to i) develop a new measure of
daily functioning co-produced with young people from the NTW Adolescent Bipolar
Service, which will be helpful for testing whether treatments improve outcomes
that are important to young people (led by Dr Adi Sharma), and ii)
investigating the factors that predict poorer mental health and academic
outcomes in university students (with Dr Stuart Watson, Dr Peter Gallagher, Dr
Lucy Robinson and led by Dr Sinead Mullally at Newcastle University).

I will also be working with
Newcastle University and NTW to look at the pathway for people with bipolar
disorder who are referred to NTW, to identify and remove gaps in provisions
particularly in relation to evidence-based psychological therapies.